TEST REPORT: 150 MPH Top Speed!

August 07, 2012

Text: Chris Tobin Photos: Gale Banks Engineering

Looking closely at the car as Dallenbach rockets out of the corner on the Pueblo road course you can see that the rear end is solidly planted while the inside front tire is nearly lifted off the ground.

After a few laps on the track the small group of hot-rodders make some minor tweaks to the car adjusting the brake bias, shock tuning and pressure in the rear tires.

Tuesday morning the Dallenbach Racing/Banks Power team took the car to Pueblo Motorsports Park near Colorado Springs to shake down and fine-tune the car making sure it is in tip-top shape before official practice sessions start on the mountain Wednesday. Paul Dallenbach piloted the car around the Pueblo road course getting a feel for the car before coming in to make some adjustments with the team. It was feeling a little skittish and twitchy under hard braking and need some more bite off the corners to maximize the potential of the 1,400-horsepower Banks Sidewinder twin-turbocharged Chevy V8.

To improve the braking performance the team adjusted the brake bias and made some minor adjustments to the shock tuning that should also help the traction as the car drives hard out of the turns. They also made an air pressure adjustment in the rear tires before sending Dallenbach back out for a few more laps on the road course.

After lapping the Pueblo road course a few more times Dallenbach reported back that “the car feels more planted, especially with more forward bite off the corners and much smoother and better controlled under braking.” With the improvements done the team decided to forgo any additional adjustments until Dallenbach gets to run the car up the mountain in official test sessions over the next few days.

With the bodywork removed you can see half of the Chevy engine along with the Banks Sidewinder turbo. But also notice the rear suspension as well as the massive Continental tire that Dallenbach is able to spin at will with pressure from his right foot.

While they were at the multi-purpose Pueblo Motorsports Park, Dallenbach made passes down the drag strip to verify top speed operation when the car is wide-open in fifth gear. Pulling information from the datalogger revealed that he registered a top speed of 150 MPH at the 7,000 RPM rev limiter in fifth gear with the small block Chevy giving all 1,400-horses to push the car down the track. It accelerates like a rocket ship recording a 60 MPH to 150 MPH acceleration time of only 6.5 seconds!

After their morning tuning and track session the Dallenbach Racing/Banks Power team loaded up the car to head over to the Pikes Peak International Raceway for PPICH technical inspection. As expected the car passed tech with no issues. Stay tuned here for the latest information as the team tackles the mountain.